


At the beginning

by Because_Of_Music



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: But here it is, F/M, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm truly sorry, Memory Loss, hope you will like it, lost daughter, the Anastasia AU nobody asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21986134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Because_Of_Music/pseuds/Because_Of_Music
Summary: The night pirates attack the island of Tarth, its lord is forced to leave with his two childern: he leaves the youger with her Septa and asks the woman to bring his child to saefty; little does he know that this will be the last time he sees his daughter.When she turns twenty, Brie decides she wants to look for her original family, if someone survived the huge train accident she was involved in as a child in the Stormlands, like her.Brie adores the family that adopted her, and Catelyn understands her need for answers and wishes her good luck as she watches her leave.Jaime and Tyrion are broke, they spent all the money they had in the trust fund their mother left for them in order to get away from their father, and now they barely make it from one year to the other: soon they will be forced to beg for money like panhandlers or crawl back to Tywin, and Jaime would rather die freezing in the cold North.One day, ad he warms himself inside a shop, he overhears two gentlmen talking about the former lord of Tarth: he is still looking for his lost daughter, and he is willing to pay her weight in sapphire to whoever may bring her home.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 12
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!  
> I hope you Christmas was as happy as mine, and that the new year will be better for you than this 2019 has been.
> 
> I watched the movie "Anastasia" during this holidays and this story popped up in my brain, and it wouldn't leave me alone so I had to write it down.  
> This is the first chapter of how many I still don't know, and I don't know when the next one will be up, hopefully soon.  
> I'm still working on chapter 8 of my other story "war of the ashes" (if you haven't read it yet and you have time go check it out and let me know what you think), it has become my personal demon, I swear I wrote it from scratch at least five times: hopefully it will be up on the first week of January.
> 
> Enjoy this AU in the meantime!

Selwyin Tarth was reading a story to his daughter the night everything changed.  
It had been a rough year between his wife’s death giving birth and the loss of his small twin daughters too, but Galladon and Brienne had understood his pain and did everything they could to help him, even though they were just kids.   
The boy was the eldest, he was ten but decisively more mature than his age: he still held that playful spark in his eyes, even after the loss of his mother and sisters Galladon could show joy at the smallest things in life, like spending time with his father, doing nothing but watching him work, talking to the people of the island and solving conflict between them.   
Brienne, on the other hand, was only six, and the loss had been harder on her: there were nights when she missed her mother the most and she would cry on and on, asking him if she did something to upset her mom and that was why she wouldn’t come home.   
The sense of despair and void hit harder on those nights, so Selwyn did the only thing he knew to ease her pain and his own: he hold her tight and whispered shooting nonsenses into her hair, kissing her forhead.   
His little warrior was so brave, just like her brother: she had always been refusing to learn to act like a proper lady, giving seven hells to her Septa, but after his wife’s death Brienne had quieted down a little, had finally started to listen to Roelle and wear dresses instead of breeches like her brother without complaining too much. He knew she did it only to earn his approval, and he made sure to show her she got it as much as possible, he even allowed her to take lessons with a sword side by side with Galladon, ignoring the Septa’s complains. Brienne had to learn to be a lady, of course, but he would never try and change her into something she was not, taming her wild spirit, if she wanted to learn how to wield a sword well then he would hire the best teacher he could find.  
That night Brienne had asked him to read her a bedtime story “from one of your big old books, dada” she had said with her impossibly blue eyes staring at him, and he had agreed because he could not deny her anything when she had that look on her face.  
The Eventar had then picked a special book, his wife’s favourite: it was a precious and unique collection of farytales, protected by a lock that only a special key could open.   
He was telling his daughter the story of this princess who got lost in a snowstorm and her horse brought her to a magnificent palace, when one of the guards rushed in, interrupting him.  
-My lord! Pirates at the gates of our home! –  
Selwyn narrowed his eyes as he stood up quickly:  
-Call every man in the palace, we must hold them off. –  
-I’m afraid we can’t, my lord they outnumber us, and they are already breaking in, you must flee and we will try to buy you some time. –  
Selwyn nodded, then called for Roelle, as soon as the other man had left the room.  
-Take my daughter and bring her to the small beach behind the castle: there is a boat there, please take it and bring her to saefty. –  
-What will you do? – the woman asked with sincere concearn in her eyes.  
-I’ll go and take Galladon from his room before the pirates get to him, we will meet again in Storm’s End, I have a friend there that will surely help us.-  
Brienne was frightened by the screams that she could hear outside of the door, so she grabbed a handful of his shirt and tugged:  
-Dada, I don’t want to go. –  
He crouched to meet her eyes: - I know you don’t, but you must leave right now with Roelle. Brienne I know that I’ve asked you a lot lately, but right know I need you to be brave, braver than you’ve ever been. – she nodded and he took off a necklace with a thin, silver chain and a sword pendant – wear this, so you won’t feel alone on the boat; I’ll grab your brother and we will be right behind you. – he said, kissing her forehead and leaving the room in a hurry.  
  
Brienne couldn’t understand why her father wanted her to walk with Septa Roelle out to the beach in the middle of the night when she was so tired all she wanted to do was sleep in her comfy bed, however if he said he wanted her to, then she must go.   
Still she wanted to know how the story he was reading her ended, so she grabbed the book on her way out.  
Septa Roelle dragged her frantically through the rooms, hastily ordering her to drop the book because it was too heavy and is slowed them down, but she wasn’t going to listen to that; they finally reached the room the older woman was looking for, and there they met a young boy who seemed to be waiting for them: he was holding a sword with his right hand and was breathing heavily; upon seeing the two women entering he hurriedly put his free hand on a brick and the wall behind him moved, revealing a dark staircase.  
Brienne was too afraid to take another step toward that darkness, that looked so much like the mouth of one of those creatures she read about in her books, but the shouting voices and the screams were getting closer, so Septa Roelle simply forced her to move: right before the wall moved back to its place her precious book slip out of her grasp and fell onto the floor.  
She begged for the woman to stop, open the wall again and let her take the book, but Septa Roelle simply ignored her.  
They finally reached the beach her father was talking about, then they jumped into one of the two small boats there, and set sail for the mainland.  
They spent the night in silence, Septa Roelle wrapped Brienne up in a blanket to shield her from the cold, and then ordered her to sleep, but she could sense that somwthing was amiss: they were moving away from the island, her father was not there and she was still cold despite the blanket.  
When it started to dawn and they could see the coast of the mainland getting closer, Septa Roelle noticed that they were being followed by a small group of pirates: they no doubtly belonged to the same crew that assaulted Tarth the night before.  
They were getting closer, so when the small boat Brienne and her Septa were on reached the shore, they hurriedly get off and started running.   
-The railway is this way, child. – Septa Roelle said, grabbing her hand – let’s prey the gods grant us mercy and there is a train passing by that we can catch. –   
Brienne could feel the ground trembling slightly under her feet, and then a loud whistle broke through the quiet of the morning.   
-Just a little faster, Brienne, the train is getting closer. –   
In the meantime the pirates had reach the shore too, and had started to chase them, a group of armed men getting closer and closer: their cruel laughs and wild screams were almost as loud as the sound of the train approaching on the railway.   
Brienne tought she had never been this scared in her whole life.   
-When I say so, we must jump. – her Septa said, squeezing her hand.   
The little girl nodded, and a second later the woman urged her to do so.   
They tried to jump onto an open wagon: Septa Roelle managed to reach it, but Brienne couldn’t jump that high, her hand slipped from the woman’s grasp, and the impact with the side of the railroad car sent her flying in the low bushes near the railway.   
The last thing she heard was a loud bang before her eyelids fluttered close, dragging her down into the darkness.   
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Jaime and Brienne at the beginning of their journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm surprisingly back!  
> I'm sorry it took me this long to finish this new chapter, which I think is going to be the longest one of the story.  
> A little disclaimer here to remind you that it is an Anastasia AU, but I will try to make it plausible in the GOT world (geographically speaking ) as you might have already noticed, I hope you'll like it anyway.
> 
> Also, I'd like to take just one more minute of your time to spread awareness of the massive destruction that bushfire caused in Australia at the beggining of this new year, and encourage you to donate what you can to the associations that are working to contain damages and helping people and wild animals alike.  
> Thank you if you'll decide to contribute, either by sharing this message or by making a donation, even a small one.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter, folks!

-I’m done. – Tyrion said, rising his head from the small table he was working on and removing his glasses.   
Jaime reluctantly raised from the old couch he was laying on and got closer to take a look at his brother’s work.  
The train tickets looked similar enough to the real ones, except for the filigrane, but this was the cheapest one they could buy that was the most similar.   
He yawned and said:  
-I’ve seen you do better works. –   
-Well, why don’t you try and see what you can do? – Tyrion snapped - Even better, why don’t you write to father and ask him to send us the damn tickets himself? I can already see him gloating while he slips them inside the letter with his answers. –   
Jaime flinched slightly at his sour tone, than clasped Tyrion’s shoulder with his hand.   
-I’m sorry, that was rude of me, but I’m tired and cold. –   
His brother nodded.  
Bronn was the one usually duffing documents, licenses and tickets, but he had moved a couple of months prior, and they knew no one else who could help them.   
Tyrion and Jaime had been running away from their father, Tywin Lannister, ever since Tyrion was eighteen; before, they had been living in a golden cage, surrounded by servants and getting everything they wished for with a snap of their fingers, but a cage nonetheless.   
Jaime was the firstborn, along with his golden twin sister, Cersei: when they were little children life had been so easy. They spent their time playing with their mother Joanna, while they only met Tywin at dinner, when he inquired them about their day.   
He wasn’t so happy to let them play so much instead of learning numbers and letters, but Joanna Lannister was having none of his complaints and simply shrugged and smiled, telling him to let them be.   
_“They are still young, let them have their way while they still can.”_  
Life wasn’t perfect, even back then, but it came pretty close to it: then their mother got pregnant once again, and while his little brother came screaming into this world, Jaime’s mother left it as gracefully as she had lived; he still remember entering her bedchamber that night and seeing her for the last time: Tywin had said he and Cersei must let Joanna rest, and forbid them from going to her, but he slipped out of his room anyway and headed for his mother’s door. He thought facing his father’s wrath was worth just to see her for a few minutes: quite brave for a seven year old.   
She was paler than the sheets she was wrapped in, her golden locks were spread all over the pillow like a halo; her beutiful green eyes fluttered open, and she smiled at him: as weak as it was, that smile still warmed him from head to toe.   
_“Come closer, Jaime, I can’t see you properly from where you stand.”_  
He had sat on her bed and she had caressed his cheek.  
 _“Are you getting better, mother? Cersei and I would like to try this new game tomorrow…”_  
 _“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, my little knight, I think I’ll have to leave soon.”_  
He had pouted at that and then asked, with great concern:  
 _“Aren’t you coming back?”_  
Joanna’s eyes had been full of tears by then, and she had grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly.   
_“You have to promise me, Jaime, that you’ll be good to your younger brother and you will protect him. Your father is a good man, but right now he is driven by rage, and I am afraid he might do something terribly foolish as neglect Tyrion. Please, my little knight, promise me you will give love and solace to your little brother for me when I won’t be around anymore.”_  
He didn’t understand why she would leave and never come back, didn’t she love them? But he had promised anyway, and kept his promise throughout the years: when Cersei and father did nothing but ignore Tyrion and his needs, Jaime did what his mother asked.   
His little brother was different from any human being he had ever seen: at some point he stopped growing and, if possible, Tywin became even more cruel to him; having a dwarf as a son was apparently a disgrace.   
How his father could never see the great mind of his youngest son was beyond the golden twin: one night, some time after Tyrion had turned eighteen, he stormed out of Tywin’s office and headed for the door, telling Jaime that he had a choice to make.   
_“I know you’ve been trying your whole life to keep this family together, Jaime, the gods know too, but here and now is the moment you must choose.”_  
 _“What happened?”_ he had asked, startled: his brother had never showed such rage, not even once in his life.  
 _“It doesn’t matter, please trust me when I say we should leave and never come back.”_  
His pleading eyes were enough to convince him, so Jaime follwed his brother out: he never knew what happened between Tyrion and his father.   
They took every bit of money they had and used it to disappear: they changed their identities and paid a huge amount for two train tickets from Lannisport to Winterfell, where they bought a small house with what was left of the money and started to look for jobs.  
They struggled through the years, but the situation had never been as bad as now: they had both been fired because the employer couldn’t afford to pay so many people anymore, they were litterally broke and a month away from selling their home in order to afford food.   
Jaime sighed:  
-When do we begin the casting? –   
A couple of day after they had spent their last money, he was walking through the streets of Winterfell, looking for a bit of luck, hoping to find someone who would hire him.   
The wind was so cold that he was afraid his nose was going to fall of from frostbite, so he had entered in a small inn seeking warmth.   
There weren’t many people at that time of the day: as he approached the fireplace he overheard two men talking nearby.   
_“I was so sorry I had to fire that good man today, but the taxes are suffocating me, I cannot afford to pay more than three employees.”_  
 _“Tell me about it, these days the streets are full of desperate men looking for a job. Is there anybody left in this mad world who isn’t looking for work?”_  
 _“Well there is one man who is willing to give money, instead of asking them to someone else.”_  
 _“And who might be this fool?”_ the man barked out a laugh.   
_“The former lord of the island of Tarth, he is still looking for his daughter; they say he is willing to pay her weight in sapphires to whomever brings her back to him.”_  
 _“Then he truly is a fool, the poor girl certainly died years ago.”_  
 _“To those who says the same to him, he answers he will never give up: honestly, can you really blame him?”_  
Jaime left in a hurry and ran home, startling his brother when the door slammed behind him.   
Tyrion listened to him and shook his head: “How are we supposed to find the lost daughter of this man if we don’t even know what she looks like?”  
 _“Oh, come on, we will find some description of her on the newspapers if he’s been looking for her through the years, don’t you think?” as the dwarf was about to object, he had kept on speaking “Besides, who says we must find the real one? We only have to find a girl that is convincing enough.”_  
Tyrion’s smile was almost wicked:  
 _“And father and Cersei called you the stupidest Lannister.”_  
-We must be at the theater in an hour, the candidates will meet us there.-  
They both grabbed their jackets and headed out.   
  
  
Brie was packing her things when Arya and Sansa ran inside the bedroom they shared.   
-Are you really leaving? – Arya shouted.   
-Mom just told us. – Sansa added, sitting on her bed.   
The tall girl sighed, she hoped to tell her sisters about her trip after dinner.   
-I was going to tell you tonight, but yes, I’m leaving tomorrow. –   
-Why? Aren’t you happy here? – the youger Stark was glaring at her with her arm crossed.   
-Of course I’m happy, I just want to know what happened to my family, that’s all. –   
Unlike her brothers and sisters, Brie had been adopted by Ned and Catelyn Stark when she was no more than seven year old, after a year spent in an orphanage in the Stormlands.   
She and Robert, the eldest child, were about the same age when she went to live with them; then came Jon, who was actually the son of Ned’s sister, Lyanna, and all the others through the years.   
They were one big happy family, Brie couldn’t ask for more: they all bonded and played together, even if anyone had their own personality.   
Brie knew she was adopted, Ned and Catelyn never kept it a secret from her, but she always felt a part of the family nonetheless; when she turned eighteen they told her she could start to look for her relatives, if she wanted to, but back then she felt no need of that.   
In the following years, though, she had started to wonder if there was someone in the world looking for her, someone that maybe was still hoping to see her alive after all those years.   
She was in an orphanage because her family had died in the train crash of the Stormlands; she was found thankfully unscathed, just behind the turn where the train derailed: it was almost a miracle.   
_“The gods protected you.”_ Was Catelyn’s general comment.   
-We are your family, but you’re leaving us anyway! – Arya cried before storming out of the room.   
Sansa shook her head and sighed:  
-You know, she’s a bit too melodramatic about your departure, but she has a point: you have everything you could ask for here, Brie, we love you, it doesn’t matter that we don’t share blood, you will always be our sister. Even I can’t see what’s the point of your journey. –   
Brie smiled, getting close to her sister so that she could hug her tightly; despite her youg age of sixteen, Sansa was so mature, but she still had those moments where she showed how young and sweet and innocent she was, even in her thinking.   
-It is kind of a journey to the past, sister, to know where I want to go with my life, I must learn where I come from; besides, if one day Rickon or Bran would get lost, wouldn’t you want them to come back to you? –   
-Of course, but it would be different. –   
-How so? –   
-They are my fa.. – Brie could see the understanding lightening up Sansa’s eyes.   
The younger girl with auburn hair hugged her once more, then added:  
-Just promise me that you’ll come back in one piece. –   
Brie nodded, then resumed packing.  
Dinner went surprisingly well, even though Arya kept glaring at her and refused to utter a single word to her the whole night.   
The older of the Stark siblings, meaning Jon and Robb, took the news well, and wished her good luck, while Bran and Rickon started pouting and wanted to be both held by her until it was time to go to bed.  
After midnight, as everybody else was asleep, she stood in the biggest room of the house, staring at the fire craking in the fireplace.   
-I’d ask you what you’re thinking about, but I’m not completely sure I want to know. – Jon’s voice startled her; she turned and gifted him with a small smile.   
Jon was like her, in a way, because he was an orphan too: his mother died giving birth, while his father was long gone before Lyanna even descovered she was pregnant. He arrived in the house about a year after Catelyn had given birth to Robb, so when she joined the three of them practically grew up together; unlike his brother Jon was a quiet child that turned into a reflexive and placid young man: some tought him cold and distant, but he was able to show great signs of affection.   
-Well it’s a good thing you won’t ask, because there’s so much on my mind right now that I would not know that to tell you. –  
He came closer and grasped her shoulder:  
-I just wanted to say.. be careful, alright? And even if it’s though do not give up, you deserve to know about your parents and your origin. –  
Brie covered his hand with her own:  
-So do you, Jon. So do you. –  
  
The following morning she grabbed her small case and left, hugging each member of the family and promising to come back as soon as possible.  
Catelyn had given her a bit of money in order to buy the ticket from Winterfell to Storm’s End and had kissed her goodbye on the door.  
Brie walked easily from there to the train station, where she stood in line for about an hour and a half; when it was finally her turn she found out the money she had were not enough.  
-But it is four time the amount I have with me! – she tried to protest.  
-There’s a new owner of the railway and he says this is the new price, if you can’t pay me then I can’t give you the ticket! –  
She sighed, resigned and moved away from the desk: there wasn’t much she could do, beside going home and ask for more money, but she wasn’t sure the Stark could afford giving her more than what they already did.  
-If you really want to go to Storm’s End – an old lady said grabbing her arm and using her to balance herself and walk toward the closest bench– you should ask to Jaime, I know he has a ticket to spare. –  
-Oh, thank you! Do you happen to know where I can find him? –   
The woman chuckled: - You should check at the old theater. –   
It took her almost an hour to reach the building and getting past the blocked door, but once she entered, Brie was disapponted to see that it was empty.  
The room was huge and full of velvet chairs, all covered in dust, as if it had been left unused for years, the curtain of the stage was closed.  
She was about to leave when a little twich of the curtain captured her attention: she quietly put her case down and stepped onto the stage, her guard held high and her breathing slowed.  
A second before she could move the fabric with her hand, all the light of the stage switched on, and a man came at her from behind the curtain with a metal bar in his hands; Brie instinctively grabbed the bar before he could hit her and held to it while rotating on herself: she sent the man flying down the stage, then jump the three steps connecting the stage to the stall and put the bar under his chin, a few inches above his throat.   
When he looked up, the air got stuck in her lungs: he was definitely the most beautiful man she had ever seen; he had green eyes and golden hair, shorter on the back and longer in the front, and even in the dim light of the stall pit she could see his body was toned.   
The man massaged the back of his head, wincing slightly, saying:  
-Seven help me, but you’re a tall one. -  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the chapter, please let me know by leaving kudos and a comment.  
> Happy New Year to each and every one of you, I hope it will be filled with joy, self development and, why not, the achievement of old and new goals.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked the story and that you'll stick around to see what happens next, please let me know with a comment and by leaving kudos.  
> Happy Holidays to you all!


End file.
